Blue Screen of Death???

[Guest]

I have been network Tech/Adminstrator for 20 years and I have never seen a
BSOD that appeared random. In fact I can count on one hand all the times I
have seen oneand I have 2500 users in my networks.

I have a 6 month old Dell Inspirion 9400 Laptop with Windows Media Centre
Edition.

It was working fine for 5 months and then all of a sudden after going to
sleep when you open it again the BSOD would be sitting there.

I have read it in detail. It seems to be a driver issue but there is no new
hardware on the machine or any new drivers. It is still running the ones it
was installed with.

It says:

Driver Corrupted MMPool

Stop: 0x000000D0, 0x902E021B, 0x00000002, 0x00000001, 0x80547167

I have searched high and low and can't figure out what could be causing
this. I would really rather not spend the time uninstalling and reinstalling
all the drivers on the machine. Microsoft sends up a help site that says to
disconnect any new??? hardware.

I have a few questions.

1> What Drivers cause BSOD and what ones just stop the device from working.
Usually with most driver problems I just get an exclamation point in Device
Manager.

2> Is there anyway to determine from the BSOD stop errors what driver it is?

We are running an

ipod - on itunes that connects once in a while to the laptop - newest drivers
bluetooth
wireless
all standard others.

Thanks
Lara

 

[Guest]

Hi Lara,

You can try this:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/244617

Otherwise, you might want to either use the "Driver Rollback" or "System
Restore" to go back to previous settings that worked.

In the STOP error, the second line usually gives more information about the
file which is causing the problem (usually some .dll file) -- you can isolate
which driver it is by that file name. There should also be similar
information in the Event Logs.

Best Wishes,
Kurosh

 

[Guest]

Thanks.

I will try that. This started back in February. I got a replacement DVD
drive and it bluescreened about 1 day after putting it in. I pulled out the
drive and put in the original and it was fine until last week and now it is
doing it often.

I don't want to do a system restore because it has been months and that is
alot of reinstalling.

There was no files listed or I would have copied them down. I will try that
driver verfier. Thanks.

I will uninstall and reinstall all the devices if I have to.

Cheers,
Lara

 

[Guest]

Hi Lara,

Good luck with the Driver Verifier tool.

It's times like this that frequent backups and drive images (after system
changes, like installing software, hardware, etc.) prove their worth.

The new DVD drive was either not XP-compatible, or probably needed a
firmware / driver update. Did you check both?

Best Wishes,
Kurosh

 

[Guest]

Hi,

Actually the New DVD Drive was taken out and replaced with the original that
works fine. I did apply firmware.

The System hasn't changed that much. It is a laptop so that is what is so
weird. It seems to do it while asleep and when you open it, there it is.

very weird.

Dells solution was format and reinstall the OS lol. I am not going to do that.

Cheers,
Lara

 

[Guest]

Hi,

Actually the New DVD Drive was taken out and replaced with the original that
works fine. I did apply firmware.

Right, I understood you went back to the old one. So why did you get a new
DVD drive then? You applied firmware to the new or old one?

These two statements (below) seem a little contradictory?

The System hasn't changed that much. It is a laptop so that is what is so
weird. It seems to do it while asleep and when you open it, there it is.

I'm not sure why it is "weird" that a laptop could have a BSOD? Also, maybe
we're confusing two things: "System Restore" only goes back in time re:
drivers and software. If the problem started recently, you should be able to
go back to a point that is before the problem started. If it started a long
time ago, probably it should have been addressed when it started.

A "System Restore" is not the same as a "clean install" of Windows XP (as
Dell suggested doing -- an option that might be necessary, if all else fails)
If you aren't able to resolve it quickly, it would probably be worth doing
the "clean install", rather than wasting hours and not getting anywhere.
However, installing the latest drivers isn't a bad thing to do, either --
this is part of regular maintenance.

Best Wishes,
Kurosh

 

[Guest]

Right, I understood you went back to the old one. So why did you get a new

DVD drive then? You applied firmware to the new or old one?

The Drive was a Sony DVD+_RW 8x but only burned DVD's at 4x. As my Desktop
Sony 8x burned the same DVD's at 8x I thought it was the drive so I got them
to send me a new one. However, when I bought my Inspiron 6400 Vista laptop
with the same laptop Sony Burner drive in it, it only burned the DVD's at 4x.
Turned out that the Sony DVD drive only wanted to burn Sony DVD's at 8x.

They sent me a Phillips drive replacement but the websites gave the drive
such a bad rap that I would rather have the stable Sony and burn at 4x.

I'm not sure why it is "weird" that a laptop could have a BSOD? Also, maybe
we're confusing two things: "System Restore" only goes back in time re:
drivers and software. If the problem started recently, you should be able to
go back to a point that is before the problem started. If it started a long
time ago, probably it should have been addressed when it started.

I have been a Network Administrator for 20 yrs and have had thousands of
machines in my networks over that time. I have seen about 10 BSOD and they
have all been the direct result of a hardware change that was made. They all
happened right away and it was obvious what the problem was.

This is an intermittent problem. There is no specific time or place and it
doesn't seem to have any pattern.

The Hardware Devices on the laptop ALL were pre-installed by Dell and they
worked for 5 months. No devices were added with the exception of the Phillips
DVD drive for 1 boot. I never added any drivers for it or anything. Firmware
was applied to the Sony Drive before hand.

In my networks I have had DVD drives and CD drives die left and right. None
have ever caused a BSOD.

The only thing installed on the laptop besides Office is my husbands' Video
Games. I don't want to do a System Restore because it would affects the saved
games. He would kill me. Also it was back in February that this started.

I am aware of what a System Restore is.

If it is a drive issue than reinstalling Windows on top of it self should
fix the problem. That way it reinstalls all the devices and drivers without
affecting the registry or the stuff already on the HD.

I will try updating the drivers first. I am just annoyed that the BSOD
doesn't provide any clue as to what device is causing the problem.

Thanks for your help.

Cheers,
Lara

 

[Guest]

The Drive was a Sony DVD+_RW 8x but only burned DVD's at 4x. As my Desktop
Sony 8x burned the same DVD's at 8x I thought it was the drive so I got them
to send me a new one. However, when I bought my Inspiron 6400 Vista laptop
with the same laptop Sony Burner drive in it, it only burned the DVD's at 4x.
Turned out that the Sony DVD drive only wanted to burn Sony DVD's at 8x.

They sent me a Phillips drive replacement but the websites gave the drive
such a bad rap that I would rather have the stable Sony and burn at 4x.

Ah, okay, makes sense. Have you tried talking to Dell or Sony about the
burn rate? Are you sure you are using DVDs that are 8x burn compatible?

I have been a Network Administrator for 20 yrs and have had thousands of
machines in my networks over that time. I have seen about 10 BSOD and they
have all been the direct result of a hardware change that was made. They all
happened right away and it was obvious what the problem was.

This is an intermittent problem. There is no specific time or place and it
doesn't seem to have any pattern.

The Hardware Devices on the laptop ALL were pre-installed by Dell and they
worked for 5 months. No devices were added with the exception of the Phillips
DVD drive for 1 boot. I never added any drivers for it or anything. Firmware
was applied to the Sony Drive before hand.

In my networks I have had DVD drives and CD drives die left and right. None
have ever caused a BSOD.

I have been using computers since I was about 10 (that's 23 years now, if
you're counting). I have seen BSODs for various reasons, mostly hardware
related -- however, not always because of a "hardware change". On Windows
XP, after installing SP2, a computer BSODed because it didn't like the USB
mouse driver. That took a long time to isolate. BSODs are usually hardware
related, but can have a software component to the problem. A change or
corruption in one of your drivers could cause this as well.

Intermittent problems are the hardest to diagnose, that's for sure. I
guess, other than doing a System Restore or repair / clean install of XP, you
can only try the option we discussed: Driver Verifier (did you try this?)
One other suggestion is to try running the Dell Diagnostics on your hardware,
to make sure everything is working up to specs. You also have the option of
calling Microsoft -- they may be able to narrow things down faster.

The only thing installed on the laptop besides Office is my husbands' Video
Games. I don't want to do a System Restore because it would affects the saved
games. He would kill me. Also it was back in February that this started.

Not necessarily. Being a gamer myself, I know that saved games are usually
not affected by software uninstalls. System Restore rarely affects user
data; it only removes software and drivers that were installed. To be on the
safe side, you could ask him to backup any saved games (and other necessary
game data) for any games that might be affected by a System Restore -- only
software that was installed / updated after a System Restore point would be
affected. He can then re-install / update any games, once your system is
back to normal.

What you can do is go through the System Restore calendar, see what programs
were installed / updated since the restore point you'd like to go back to
(assuming you can go back that far?), and just be prepared to re-install /
update them.

I am aware of what a System Restore is.

Okay, good, just wasn't sure if our meanings were getting crossed -- you
suggested it had been "months", so I thought you were thinking of a clean
install. February is only (less than) 2 months back, depending when in
February.

If it is a drive issue than reinstalling Windows on top of it self should
fix the problem. That way it reinstalls all the devices and drivers without
affecting the registry or the stuff already on the HD.

That's true. However, you would still have to re-install the drivers for
all your hardware. Repairing XP puts back the drivers that were on the CD,
which are not necessarily the correct drivers. If you're just concerned
about a driver issue, I wouldn't repair XP. I would use the Driver Verifier,
or simply re-install all drivers with the latest versions.

I will try updating the drivers first. I am just annoyed that the BSOD
doesn't provide any clue as to what device is causing the problem.

Sounds like a good plan -- if that doesn't work, there are various options
(mentioned above) that may.

Welcome to XP. I believe Vista does a better job of this? Again,
Microsoft may have access to information about the BSOD that's not
immediately apparent. Maybe it's a good time to consider upgrading to Vista.

Best Wishes,
Kurosh

 

[Guest]

I would use the Driver Verifier,

or simply re-install all drivers with the latest versions.

I think this is the best idea. System restore is such a shot in the dark
because I don't have a specific date.

Maybe it's a good time to consider upgrading to Vista

My Inspiron 6400 laptop has Vista. It is far to different for my husband -
he had difficulty with the IE 7 upgrade. Plus they removed a few XP main
features that drive me crazy.

Thanks

Lara